The defective Ward gene

Just yesterday I was talking about my father's impatience and being reminded of how that gene is alive and well in me.  Being one of 12 children is a great opportunity to observe how certain genes manifest in siblings.

In my family I think the most prominent gene is the one known by some as "the defective Ward gene" and by others as "the Rogue Gene".  This is the gene that is blamed for our vagueness,  our forgetfulness.  A few have escaped it, but not many.  I think it is also the gene that makes most of us so easy to get along with, I think all of us but I could be wrong and be seeing my siblings through rose coloured glasses.

Other Ward genes that are quite active are the restless sleeping gene and the hangover gene, both of which I have (thankfully) dodged.  But I see them in my children.  Then there is the competitive, the liking to win gene. Ha!  You didn't really think I was going to admit to that one, did you?

How many of us have an inherited the impatientce, the aversion to traffic lights, I wonder.  A few I know of but there are probably more, it's not exactly something we sit around and talk about.

 Yesterday, 6 year old Georgia played with a game from the $2 shop.  At first she was all concentration (my father used to play a card game called "concentration" with all his grandchildren) and competitiveness.  Then you could see the impatience and frustration creeping in (middle photo, bottom row), the bottom lip coming into play when she wasn't winning.

Oh yes, I think there's a few Ward genes still at work.

Thanks, GB, for providing the link to this terrific photogrid.  It can be loaded from Tales from an English Coffee Drinker .